What is Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis?
Spermatogenesis vs Oogenesis
Spermatogenesis and oogenesis are the processes of formation of male and female gametes. Spermatogenesis leads to the formation of sperm, while oogenesis helps in the formation of eggs. Fertilization of sperm and eggs leads to the formation of a zygote that develops into an embryo. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis

- Let’s take a detailed look at the difference between spermatogenesis and oogenesis.
Spermatogenesis vs Oogenesis
Although in both processes the animals generate the sexual cells or gametes, the oogenesis and spermatogenesis differ by the type of the gametes formed, the number of gametes formed, the difference in the structure of a reproductive organ, and their time of occurrence in males and females.
If you want to know more, read on!
Difference In Tabular Form:
Properties | Spermatogenesis | Oogenesis |
Definition | The main feature is the production of the sperms from spermatogenesis. | The main feature is the production of the ovum from oogenesis. |
Stages Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis | All the stages take place in the testis. | Not all only the last stage of oogenesis takes place in the oviduct. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis |
Location | Spermatogenesis is located in the testis of males. | Oogenesis is located in the ovary of females. |
Growth | The growth phase is short. | The growth phase is extended. |
Production rate | The production of sperms is in millions every day. | Only one ovum is released once a month. |
Release Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis | The sperms are released from the testis. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis | The ova are released from the ovary. |
Duration | It takes place every day. | It takes place once per month. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis |
Cell division | The division is equal and helps in the formation of four haploid spermatids. | The division of the cell is unequal and helps in the formation of one haploid ovum and two polar bodies. |
Nuclear Condensation | It takes place in the sperms. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis | No nuclear condensation is found in the ovum. |
Mortality | The sperms are motile. | The ova are nonmotile. |
What are the differences between ovogenesis and spermatogenesis?
- The most important difference is that oogenesis is a process that takes place in the ovary while spermatogenesis takes place in the testicles.
- The second important difference lies in the properties of each gamete. The oocyte accumulates more vital during oogenesis since its function is to wait for the arrival of sperm in the fallopian tubes. Instead, the sperm minimizes its cytoplasm, generates motility structures and enzymes to remove the barriers that protect the egg and make fertilization more difficult. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- During oogenesis, the ovule appears surrounded by numerous layers and membranes that have different functions (mechanical protection, protection against fertilization by more than one sperm cell, etc.). These layers also appear and disappear during their maturation. In the case of spermatogenesis, the sperm is only surrounded by a membrane, the cytoplasmic membrane.
- Spermatogenesis is produced from an embryonic diploid cell called spermatogonia, while the ovule is generated from a diploid and also embryonic cell called ovogonia.
- During oogenesis, ovogonia results in only one secondary oocyte, which can be fertilized while, during spermatogenesis, spermatogenesis gives rise to four mature spermatozoa, which can fertilize four oocytes. We can say that, in the case of the male, the quantity predominates while in the female the quality predominates.
- Related to the above, we can see a great difference in the process of meiosis that takes place in spermatogenesis and oogenesis: in spermatogenesis, the meiotic divisions are symmetric, that is, all the cells generated have the same amount of cytoplasm; on the other hand, in oogenesis, the meiotic divisions are asymmetric since almost all the cytoplasm will pass to the next oocyte and only one part is carried by the polar corpuscle.
- During the oogenesis, a byproduct, the polar corpuscle, is formed and atrophied and eliminated. In spermatogenesis, however, no byproduct is produced. We can say that, in this case, the male is more conservative.
- In spermatogenesis, the sperm must undergo a very large cell differentiation process to acquire the necessary structures for motility, penetration of the pellucid zone, etc. while, in oogenesis, the ovule does not undergo very drastic changes in its shape. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- The female is born with a certain number of oocytes, which will ripen throughout her reproductive life. When these are over or their hormones order them to stop maturing, menopause occurs and the female reaches the end of her fertile stage. In the case of men, spermatogenesis occurs practically throughout life, and men begin to produce sperm from puberty and never stop producing them or do so when they are very old.
- The oogenesis begins during the seventh month of embryonic development, while spermatogenesis begins to occur periodically when the male reaches puberty.
- In oogenesis, we observe two periods of latency while spermatogenesis is a continuous process, in which there are no stops. The first one, called diction, begins during embryonic development and does not end until it reaches puberty; the second occurs in each menstrual cycle and is one in which the secondary oocyte stops its division in the metaphase of the second meiosis (metaphase II) and is expelled through a process called ovulation.
- The spermatogenesis is completed while the sperm is inside the testicle. However, the ovule ends its maturation outside the ovary since the completion of meiosis II occurs outside the ovary. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- The oogenesis only fully completed if fertilization while spermatogenesis is fully completed, it will not occur or fertilization of the egg.
- When oogenesis ends, the result is only one ovule while, in spermatogenesis, thousands of sperm are generated at once. This is another example in which the male prefers to generate much sperm, from which the best one (the one that will arrive or will fertilize the secondary oocyte) will be selected. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- In the case of humans, spermatogenesis has an approximate duration of between 62 and 75 days while, in the case of women, the menstrual cycle (which is what determines how often women can reproduce) lasts 28 days. Around day 14 of the cycle, ovulation occurs and fertilization has to take place between 24 and 48 hours after it.
What is ovogenesis?
The oogenesis is the set of processes that lead to the formation of female gametes, ova. The oogenesis begins during the embryonic development of the woman or female from a germ cell. Oogenesis begins in the ovary and ends in the fallopian tubes if there is fertilization. First, the germ cells of the ovary undergo cell division by mitosis, leading to oogonia.
Then, these oogonia suffer a division by meiosis, which remains stopped (arrest) in prophase I until puberty. This cell is called the primary oocyte and remains deployed. The primary oocyte for its part undergoes second meiosis, which stops in prophase II until fertilization occurs. This cell is a secondary oocyte (haploid cell) is released in ovulation and they look very similar to that of a mature ovum. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
Minutes after fertilization, the second meiosis is completed and we are already facing a mature ovum capable of joining its DNA with that of the sperm to generate the zygote.
Process
The oogenesis process includes the following steps:
- The oogonium first develops from the germinal epithelium that covers the ovary, with the ability to self-renew.
- The oogonium then undergoes cell division by mitosis and differentiates into primary oocytes.
- These primary oocytes also undergo meiosis-1 cell division, which they perceive at the diplotene stage in childhood. When puberty occurs, it helps form the secondary oocyte and polar body. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- Secondary oocytes undergo meiotic cell division-2, which stops at the metaphase stage to form an oocyte.
- When this otid is fertilized, it produces a large, spherical, nonmotile egg and a second polar body, which degenerates.
Facts Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- The Oogonium forms one egg.
- The primary oocyte will give rise to a secondary oocyte and a polar body that degenerates from the ovary.
- Humans have 46 chromosomes because the Oogonium will have the same number of chromosomes due to meiosis not dividing. But when the primary oocyte undergoes meiosis 1 and 2 cell division, the number of chromosomes becomes halved, that is, 46 in the primary oocyte and 23 in the secondary oocyte and the polar body and the oocyte.
- During oogenesis, 7 million primary oocytes are formed in the ovaries of a female fetus, which regenerate to 2-4 million after birth. After puberty, only 40,000 primary eggs were left out, and after dividing for an 11–50-year reproductive phase, females again had 480.
Spermatogenesis Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
The spermatogenesis is the set of processes that lead to the formation of male gametes, the spermatozoa. Spermatogenesis begins at the puberty of men from a germ cell and takes place in the epididymis, a duct found in the testicles. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
First, the germ cells of the epididymis undergo cell division by mitosis, resulting in spermatogonia. Next, the spermatogonia undergo a division by meiosis and some slight modifications and two primary spermatocytes are generated. Each of these first spermatocytes undergoes second meiosis, which results in the formation of two spermatids (haploid cells that look very similar to that of a sperm cell). Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
Finally, the spermatids undergo a series of modifications, which serve to allow the sperm to move and fertilize the ovule in a more effective way. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
Process Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
The process of spermatogenesis includes the following steps:
- Spermatogonia first develop from the epithelial lining of the seminiferous tubules, which are diploid stem cells with totipotency.
- It then undergoes cell division by mitosis and develops into primary spermatocytes. This process is known as “spermatocytogenesis”. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- These primary spermatocytes undergo meiosis 1 cell division, resulting in the formation of two secondary spermatocytes.
- These secondary spermatocytes now undergo meiotic cell division 2 and form two spermatids that connect to the margin of the testicular lumen through cytoplasmic bridges.
- Spermatids are round-shaped and non-motile cells that mature to form motile and haploid sperm. This process of sperm production to form spermatids is called “spermiogenesis”.
Facts
- The duration of spermatogenic sperm formation from spermatogonia is 70 days. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- Spermatogonia produce four spermatozoa.
- One primary spermatocyte is responsible for the formation of two secondary spermatocytes.
- In humans, the number of chromosomes is 46, because in spermatogonia, the number of chromosomes will remain unchanged due to the non-dissociation of meiosis. But when the primary spermatocyte undergoes meiosis 1 and 2 cell division, the number of chromosomes becomes halved, that is, 46 in primary spermatocytes and 23 in spermatocytes, spermatids and secondary spermatozoa.
- 200-300 million sperm are produced in one ejaculation. It consists of 60% immotile and 40% motile sperm.
- The normal range for men should be within 100 million/ml of semen. If their number is less, the condition of “oligospermia” occurs, which leads to infertility.
Structure of sperm
- It consists of three parts head, neck, and tail.
Head: Consists of an acrosome located at the tip and produced by the Golgi body. It contains an enzyme known as “sperm lysin”. It plays an essential role as it enters the egg by digesting its membrane. An uncondensed nucleus is also devoid of nucleoplasm.
Neck: Consists of a proximal centriole required for the first division and a distal centriole that holds the axial filament.
Middle part: It consists of an axial filament composed of organized mitochondria. These mitochondria number about 25, which provide energy for the movement of the flagella.
Tail: Elongated and mobile, surrounded by a flagellum.
Structure of ovum Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- It does not consist of a head, neck and tail.
- The egg nucleus is unusual. In this nuclear condensation is present, where it is swollen with nucleoplasm and refers to the germinal vesicle. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
- There are no centrioles in the egg.
- In the egg, mitochondria spread throughout the cytoplasm.
- An egg consists of little or no yolk.
- Size is larger than oocytes.
- It consists of a large amount of cytoplasm.
- The ovum is surrounded by two layers known as the granulosa cells and the zona pellucida. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis
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Spermatogenesis | Oogenesis |
The production of sperm from spermatogonia is called spermatogenesis. | The production of eggs from oogonia is known as oogenesis |
Occurs in testes | Occurs inside the ovary |
All stages are completed in testes | The major part of oogenesis occurs inside the ovary. The last few stages occur in the oviduct. |
It is a continuous process | It is a discontinuous process. The early stages take place in the foetus and the rest in later stages of life. Difference Between Spermatogenesis And Oogenesis |
Produces motile gametes | Produces non-motile gametes |
Equal cytokinesis occurs during the spermatogenesis producing four sperms | Unequal cytokinesis occurs during oogenesis ultimately producing one large ovum and tiny polar bodies |